Another Claymore Story
by Azure Moon 1353
Summary: The last remaining Male, Claymore is searching for vengeance.  While searching, he meets a Claymore named Clare, who makes him question WHO he should be wanting vengeance against.  The Yoma that killed his mother will pay, but what about its creators...?
1. Prologue

~Another Claymore Story~ *

~ ~Hello guys! It's been a while.. Hope you enjoy my first Claymore story!

This story will be about an epic tail of the last-surviving male 'Claymore' (Half Human, Half Yoma).

**Disclaimer: Claymore does not belong to me in anyway, except for this story and its part of its plot. The characters also do not belong to me, as much as I may wish it were so.**

***(This Disclaimer is for every Chapter that comes out.)***

_**Another Claymore Story**_

Clouds covered the sky, as an endless-seeming rain engulfed the land. Regardless of such an environmental factor, people continued to rampage through the market street, with the exception of extra layers of clothing and rain covers. Small noise could be heard behind the crying of the sky.

The City of Angels, otherwise known as Angel City, was split into two districts: Teresa and Clare. (Often referred to as the "T" and "C" Districts. The city was usually calm and happy, with not once ever being forced to call help from a Silver-Eyed Witch. Unfortunately, and everyone knew it, this could not last forever.

"_Hey momma! How was work today?" asked Kai._

"_It was great; look at all the money I received today." Replied the mom, with a huge grin on her face._

_It was not the norm for women to be working, but this fatherless family needed a way to survive and function, so extra measures were needed to be surpassed. A couple hours later, the two went out into the C-Market, the lesser city of the two. This district was where the majority of the poor lived, where money was extremely tight._

_The boy (Kai) and his mother wandered around, looking for the ingredients needed to cook dinner. In the split of a second, a loud roar could be heard above the loud noise of the people. Not long after that, ear-piercing screams of a woman could be heard._

"_Oh no…" whispered the mother, eyes wide with fear._

"_Momma, what is it?" asked Kai, frantically._

"_Why now, of all times? Never before have they-"_

_She was abruptly cut off by another roar from whatever was making that noise._

_Looking towards the sound, Kai could see a giant monster rapidly approaching. A wave of people began rushing towards the opposite direction. The boy and his mom were soon separated, forced away by human bodies. Even mustering up his strength, all the boy could do was hide in an alley, behind a trash bin._

_The monster let out a low laugh and leaped into the market. More screams were heard as the monster began tearing through people, eating their guts as they flew all around the place. Kai slid his back down the wall, until he was able to wrap his arms around his legs. He tried to drown out everything that was happening, even if it was in vain._

_A noise startled the boy, and he turned to see a woman with silver-eyes and a claymore walked out into the street. Kai ran up to her and yelled._

"_No, don't go out there; there's a monster!"_

_She replied with a simple "Hn" and continued to walk towards the monster._

_The woman jumped into the air, and dashed towards the monster. With a quick slash, the monster's arms dropped to the floor. It turned around, faced the woman, and spoke._

"_Ho ho ho, what do we have here? A Claymore?"_

"_Claymore is only a term given to us by common folk. The fact that you call me this means that you are nothing but a youngling newborn. This should be simple."_

"_Why you- How dare you question my strength! I will shred your body into millions of tiny pieces!" The monster full-on leaped at the "Claymore", but she back-flipped into the air. A giant tail came zooming at her, but with a twist and slice, it fell to the ground._

"_ARGHH!"_

_The Claymore dashed closer to the monster, quickly taking care of its legs._

"_No, no! Please spare me! I promise not t-"_

_His speech was cut short when a claymore made impact with the head. A slight turn and thrust cause the entire monster to be split in half._

_The boy's eyes lit up with aw and wonder. The Claymore made a cut in the air, sliding the blood off, before she silently put away her enormous weapon. She began to walk towards the exit, but the boy ran up to her like before._

"_Wow, you're a Claymore? That's amazing; I wish I was one to! Then I could protect my momma-" Realization dawned on Kai, as his eyes lit up with terror worse than when the monster appeared. He ran off with tear-streaked eyes, heading towards where they got separated. He crouched down in front of his mother, eyes closed and body torn open._

"_Momma! Momma wake up! Please…" But all the boy's hopeless pleads were heard as if unspoken; No answer came. A man in black clothes walked up to Kai, and put his hands on his shoulders. Along with that, only one thing was said; only one thing needing to be said:_

"_Do you want to avenge your mother?"_

~ ~Well, this is the 1st Chapter! Please review- even if it means just saying awesome, I love you, what you think should happen somewhere in the story, and what your feelings are about the story.~ ~


	2. Unexpected Meeting

**Thank you for getting this far (Even though it's only chapter 2)! I hope that my story only gets better and better- and YOUR reviews will decide what that outcome will be. This chapter is where Kai first meets Clare. Sorry, but Raki isn't here yet.**

_**Another Claymore Story**_

"Hello Kai."

"What's the next job?" replied Kai.

"Rather hasty, aren't we?"

"As a half-human/half-yoma, it is my duty to eliminate them."

After receiving the mission details, Kai thrust his claymore into the ground, preparing for the arduous travel of tomorrow. As he looked around the clearing, something caught his silver eyes. Leaning forward, he saw a flower burgeoning under the light of the full moon.

Leaning back against his sword, small memories flooded into Kai's head. After the last memory faded away, Kai closed his silver eyes, a single tear dropping to the ground.

_I guess this proves… that these silver eyes of mine… do indeed have the capability to cry…_

"_Quick, strap him down before the surgery takes full affect."_

_A few seconds passed by._

"_There we go."_

_Small whimpers could barely be heard over a strange, snarling hum._

_**There's no turning back now.**_

"_This one is taking the pain quite well; are you sure he is an orphan?"_

"_Yes. I saw his mother die right before my eyes. In a way, this one was willing."_

"_Haha, you mean like an avenger?"_

"_Exactly. I simply gave him the chance to 'avenge his mother'._

_Boisterous laughs escaped from their mouths (whoever they were)._

Kai's eyes snapped open, just before dawn. He smothered the fire pit before trudging south. All seemed peaceful at the moment, so Kai slightly faltered his speed, discreetly taking in the gorgeous scenery around him.

In all his experience, Kai never once understood who or what he really was.

'_Why do I enjoy simple pleasures?' _or _'What makes me different from the others?'_ were constant questions that roamed through his mind.

A small yoma presence entered Kai's sensing-radius. Kai grabbed the handle of his claymore before jumping, seemingly disappearing, towards that direction. Suppressing all his yoma energy, he landed in a tree hovering above a small clearing. A person in a black cloak stood still in the center of the clearing.

**JUMP – DASH – SWOOSH – SWING – CLANG**

Kai stood face-to-face with another Claymore. He lowered his weapon before putting it away. The Claymore in front of him pulled down her hood. She wore her hair in a medium-length cut. The symbol on her sword looked somewhat similar to a trident.

When their eyes met, Kai found confusion staring into him. He returned the gesture with a slight tilt to his eye. She caught this movement, and took the opportunity to speak.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"That depends," he began, "on why you want to know and who YOU are. By the way," he calmly continued, "how did you sense my yoki, even though it was suppressed?"

The girl's gaze shifted downward, almost making it seem that she was in thought. With a slight nod, invisible to the human eye, she answered his question.

"My name is Clare, my number was 47, and I excel at sensing/reading yoma energy."

"No matter how much your yoki is suppressed, even the slightest, most tiny amount of energy will always be released. This is a fact."

"Hn." He nodded.

"So back to MY question- Who are you?" she pressed.

"Ok, well here I go: My name is Kai, I have no number, and I specialize in yoma energy and the copycat technique."

Clare looked him over one more time. Obvious to Kai, another thought crossed her mind.

"Hm.. I think I understand now." She said.

"You do now, do you?" Asked Kai with a childish smirk.

"You must be what they call X-14."

Inwardly, Kai was a little sketchy. On the outside, however, he simply shrugged it off and made a small pout.

"Whaaat? Am I not good enough for you to call me by my real name?"

The corner of Clare's mouth twitched into an almost invisible grin. This is what gave Kai the edge of their conversation.

"Oh, and let me guess… you're not actually with the organization… anymore."

A panicked look flew across Clare's face.

"Oh, you must be talking about my rank number. I _was _47 means that now I am just a higher ranking." She hastily replied.

"Is that so? And actually, that's not why I thought you left, but how you immediately inferred so would also cause me to believe it otherwise."

Kai smirked to himself.

"Besides… you show too much emotion."

"Well what about you?" she pressed.

"I have a few excuses."

A few moments of silence passed before he continued.

"One: I'm a guy, so I do whatever I want to do."

"Two: I'm not really seen as a witch or whatever, so I don't pretend to live up to those expectations."

"Three: I'm only a quarter Yoma."

The moment she heard the 3rd reason, a gasp escaped Clare's mouth.

"You- you're the same… the same as me."

"What?" Kai's eyes grew wide with interest.

"I willingly went to the organization… for vengeance."

"Me too…" he replied inaudibly- or so he thought.


	3. Beginning of the End Vocab Special

_**This chapter is dedicated to my English teacher (Mrs. Gypton), so all the words you may not know, shall be written at the bottom of the chapter. I love you guys!**_

_**Another Claymore Story**_

"…_and that's the gist of it." She said_

Last night had been a *timorous discovery. Regardless of now being alone, Kai began to talk aloud as he *ambled once again towards the city.

"To believe, or not to believe? That is the question.."

"Why not start with whether or not her words were *spurious?" he asked himself.

Trees flew by as Kai began to run the last bit of distance between him and the city.

"Clare was definitely very *benevolent, *bereft of pride and true to her heart." He began again.

"There's only one thing to do then, correct?"

"Yes. We're going to need confirm the research."

A small smile shown across his face, happy at the conclusion of his ridiculous *altercation with himself.

"_The organization.. is a *nefarious group of people.." She stated *prudently, trying to *abate any possible *umbrage._

"_Wha-?" he asked, choking on the bit of food he was currently *masticating._

"_The organization, is not just the *accommodating exterminator of Yoma, but also the *inimical creator."_

_The memory of when he was 'reborn' popped into Kai's head._

_The *scurrilous growling noise he had heard- hearing it again in his head right then and there confirmed exactly what it had been.. There must have been a room full of Yoma in the other room- probably where they supply the demonic flesh-and-blood._

"_This land we are on.. is not the only one. In fact, it is only an island. The mainland is a *truculent battlefield full of *lachrymose bloodshed…"_

_The conversation carried on for a little bit more, until they both allowed darkness to drift them off into unconsciousness._

_In his dreams, the room where he was 'reborn' replayed in his mind, over and over again._

After 10 minutes of running Kai slowed down to a *trek, the city now in sight. Kai continued into the city. At first the city was very loud and busy, but as soon as the citizens saw Kai, the noise died down and everyone looked at him as if he was *officious.

"YOU guys hired ME, remember..?" he asked with a sigh.

*Diminutive murmurs echoed around the streets.

"Yes. I am indeed the only male Claymore in existence."

"I bet he's also a *sycophant, flaunting off like that.."

Kai's ears perked up right before he leaped into the air. A single back flip landed him right in front of the man who sent *invective at him.

Right when the man looked as if he were going to break down into tears, Kai *lauded him.

"Haha, you're right!" A *fortifying smile plastered itself onto Kai's face. The man fainted, giant spirals radiating from his eyes.

Finally, the contractor came up to Kai, an *abiding look showing about him.

_At least THIS guy has __*propriety__.. _he thought to himself.

The contractor looked rather old, maybe even old enough to be Kai's father, who would have been at least 100 years old.

"There is a Yoma hiding in the mountains right next to us. It's extremely old, maybe even older than you. Every decade, it comes down to destroy as much as the town as possible."

A puzzled look crossed Kai's face.

"Then why does some of the city still look so original?" he asked.

"Well, every decade a Claymore is sent, and the Yoma tends to leave after killing the Claymore sent here.."

As *punctilious as he was, the organization was definitely trying to get rid of him. He knew that there was no possibility of it being about Clare, so he had to assume that it was something else.

A loud roar was made from the base of the mountain.

_Regardless of their reasons, my side of the battle is chosen._

_If I make it out of this, I need to find Clare and help shut down the organization._

_Once and for all._

_**Sorry for the short chapter guys, please Review!**_

**Timorous: fearful, timid**

**Amble: to stroll, walk**

**Spurious: false but intended to seem believable or possible**

**Benevolent: kind, good, caring**

**Bereft: without, devoid of**

**Altercation: an argument, dispute**

**Nefarious: horribly villainous**

**Prudent: cautious, careful**

**Abate: to lessen, to reduce in severity**

**Umbrage: anger, offense, resentment**

**Masticate: to chew**

**Accommodating: obliging, help**

**Inimical: hostile, threatening**

**Scurrilous: crude, vulgar**

**Truculent: eager to fight, violent**

**Lachrymose: tearful**

**Trek: to walk, travel by foot**

**Officious: offering unwanted help or service**

**Diminutive: miniature, small**

**Sycophant: a self-serving flatterer**

**Invective: a verbal attack**

**Laud: to applaud or praise**

**Fortify: to strengthen**

**Abide: to put up with, tolerate**

**Propriety: decency, state of being proper**

**Punctilious: eager to follow rules**


	4. Fated Meeting

_**Hey guys! Ok, so I'm trying to make the story better, so here is me attempting so.**_

_**Another Claymore Story**_

Loud screams echoed off the knolls and hills all around the city. There were screams of agony, screams of fear, and screams of hatred. Never before had Kai seen such a sight, except for the day he became an orphan. With a soft curse under his breath, he ran towards the outskirts of the village, where the cruel being was arriving from.

"Claymore!"

He could hear people crying in relief, crying in disgust, and screaming in shock/surprise. Of course, this ruined his element of surprise, as the Yoma turned to see Kai charging at it. A wide smirk appeared across it- his? There was a male yoma laughing at the shocked look set upon Kai's features.

Kai began to concentrate on his Yoki. Slightly rising it, slightly lowering it, and repeating the process, until he was about 200 feet away. Raising his Yoki higher this time, he dashed- no, he teleported right in front of the awakened being.

He thrust his claymore forward, stabbing it into the neck of the yoma. A miasma oozed out of the wound, forcing Kai to jump back before he became permanently poisoned. A low chuckle was heard above the mayhem.

"**Fool. You were sent here for the purpose of me killing you. There is no way that you could defeat me. At the very most, you shall awaken!"**

Kai began exercising his yoki once more. Up, down, up down, unleash!

This time, Kai was behind the monster's head. A side-slash put another laceration into his body, and just like the last time, miasma poured out.

Kai jumped up into the air, exercising his yoki while performing a back flip. With another sudden release, the Awakened Being found Kai slicing into his skull. It wasn't a complete cut, but he was getting somewhere.

Kai jumped back off of the yoma.

"**You think that will work? My miasma will kill you before then!**"

"Are you sure?" Kai asked. "You are apparently unable to regenerate."

Kai quickly ran at the yoma, preparing to deepen the cut in his skull.

Out of nowhere, large tentacles shot out of his open wounds, sharp dagger-like points on the end of each one. Before Kai could retaliate, his body was pierced by one of them.

Looking back at the monster, the wound quickly healed themselves, albeit the one that was piercing his body now.

"**I can regenerate whenever I so choose to, foolish half-human half-yoma.**"

A smirk appeared on Kai's face. A small laugh could be made out by the ears of a yoma.

"**Why are you laughing? Have you finally lost your mind?**"

"You are no awakened being."

"**Surely you must be blind and insane.**"

"No. You are an experiment. First, you were created as a yoma. Then, you were given a strong consciousness. Next, they put human flesh and blood within you, causing you to have the appearance of an Awakened One. Unfortunately, you were not as controllable, aside from the fact that you were to ugly to show off to their superiors to. So, you now reside here, promising only to come out of hiding once every decade, while the organization gives you the pleasure of killing every 'Claymore' they send here."

"**You are too smart for your own good.**"

Five more tentacle, formed off the original, piercing into the rest of Kai's body.

The civilians began to scream again, attempting to run as far away from the Yoma as possible. The screaming ceased when a man was pointing at the image of Kai.

His body disintegrated into the air. A loud gasp was heard from the Yoma creature. Kai reappeared above his head, falling at a dangerous velocity. At 70% power, the cut was able to make it all the way through.

"**Wha- how?**"

"You have just been defeated, by the Shadow-Copy X-14 of the male generation."

"**How did you know where my body was?**"

The Yoma's body shattered, leaving a smaller-sized yoma standing there in defeat.

"I felt another yoma presence, weaker than the appearing one outside."

Kai turned around, walking away from the defeated yoma. In less than a second, the yoma fell into two parts, purple blood staining the ground around it. Above, purple clouds of miasma began to blow away in the wind.

Without warning, Kai fell to the Earth. His yoki began to rise higher and higher, stopping right at 80%. Kai began to scream, trying to suppress the huge amounts of ecstasy that his yoki was offering him.

"No! No, no, no, no, no!"

A light began emanating from his body, engulfing anything within a 10-ft radius. Still refusing to transform, Kai gripped his head and shoved it towards the ground. He was a huddled mess of a human-yoma figure.

The light suddenly changed into a blue-ish color, wrapping itself around the white light, and forming a small sphere around Kai. As soon as it came, the power left. Looking at his body, he could tell that he did not transform. Another sigh of relief left his mouth as he noticed that his injury had been cured.

_It must have been the miasma. Instead of death, it controls yoki/yoma energy._

_I wonder why I stopped.. and why I feel so, different. Power? But I didn't awaken, did I?_

Continuing to question himself, he was unaware of an old man approaching him from the city.

"Here is the money for th-"

"There is no need to pay. Think of it as it being 'on me'."

"Thank you! Thank you! If there's ever anything you need, we'd be happy to oblige."

"I will be sure to remember that."

With that, Kai made his leave, unsure of exactly where to head. He made it into the forest before he sensed another's yoki rapidly approaching. Before he could jump away, another warrior teleported in front of him, much like the technique he used on the yoma.

He halted, reaching for his claymore, hesitating on the handle.

"Phantom Miria, I presume? I thought you were supposed to be dead?"

A look of shock appeared on her face.

"You- who are you?"

"Man, do you females always have to ask me that? Yes, I am the single survivor of the male generation. My name is Kai, nice to meet you too."

Miria began to think to herself before nodding from behind Kai.

Six other warriors walked out from behind their hiding places. Out of all of them, Kai recognized one in particular..

"Clare!"

_**Haha, thanks for reading this far. I haven't written a story in a long time, so this is sorta like I'm a newbie again, lol. Please Read & Review.**_


	5. Experimental Revelation

_**This chapter is dedicated to the lovely Ms. Morse, my awesome student teacher for English 4**_

_**Another Claymore Story**_

"You two know each other!" exclaimed Miria.

Clare simply nodded her head, leaving the explanations to Kai.

"We met a little while back, both discovering that we have a lot in common."

Clare looked up at Kai with those strange eyes of hers.  
>"Yes.. he- he's the same as me."<p>

Everyone looked at her in surprise, and then they all turned their gaze of curiosity upon him once more.

"Have you awakened yet?" asked Miria.

Kai looked at her in shock.

"Of course not- as you can see I'm perfectly normal." was his reply.

"We saw the light. It turned blue right before your yoki went back down to normal levels." said Clare.

Kai's puzzlement must have been written all over his face, because Clare walked up closer to him, placing her hands on his shoulders.

"You felt like you were about to awaken. Out of nowhere, you are brought back almost as if it never happened." Kai could only shake his head in disbelief.

"No. That's impossible; everyone knows that's impossible!" Panic flooded across Kai's features. His head seemed to get very light, very fast. The world seemed to spin again, as the old memories started to flood into his thoughts again. All the screaming became increasingly loud, seemingly unable to be escaped from. Louder and louder they got, until there was nothing else existing except for the screams and cries.

Everything seemed to snap back into reality in a split second. Looking up, Kai realized that the right side of his face was stinging. Looking up at Clare, her hand was right by his face. Smiling a bittersweet smile, Kai nodded at Clare, assuring her that he was then okay.

:"Thanks for that. It's probably not healthy to lose control like that. Who knows what could happen." responded Kai.

"You could transform for one!" half-screamed another Claymore, hair similarly short like Clare's.

"That's not funny, Helena." stated another one of them, with short-short hair.

"Aww.. lighten up Deneve."

"Mind if I join you then?" began Kai. "I've got a personal score against the Organization I feel the need to even out." a strange smile enlightened Kai's face, giving him an almost-cynical image.

"The more the merrier," said Miria, "as long as you can behave yourself." With a small smile on her mouth, she simply walked away, not even giving Kai the chance to respond.

"Well, this is going to go somewhere interesting I hope." said Kai as an amused smile replaced his old one.

"This is definitely going to be interesting."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Are the plans ready?" asked a man in dark clothes.

"Almost- he's coming along perfectly though." replied a strange-looking scientist, in a black lab coat rather than white.

The room was dim, humid, and empty. All that existed was a strange operating table with some sort of sheet covering some strange, humanoid figure.

"Very good." began the man in dark clothes. "I want him alive in a fortnight."

"But sir-" began the scientist, but he was cut off before any sort of argument could be made.

"Give him life, or you lose yours. Take your pick, Dr. Isaacs."

The doctor warily nodded his head.

"Very good doctor- very good."

Dr. Isaacs watched the man walk away before he breathed a sigh of relief. Walking over to the table, he pulled down the sheet, revealing a boy looking to be about 15 years of age.

The doctor shook his head in disgust.

_This kind of work is not suited for me. This experiment utterly sickens me. This.. this CREATURE is an abomination of existence itself._

Isaacs commenced with removing the rest of the sheet. The boy's body was in fit shape all around, his entire body an embodiment of perfection... except for the grotesque.. parts.. that existed where a normal human's feet, stomach, and ears were.

Everything else seemed perfectly normal. The boy's hair was dark brown, perfect waves resting naturally upon his cranium. His height was still that of a young teenager as well; it was a sad sight to see for a moral man such as Dr. Isaacs.

_How did I end up joining such an organization..? Why did I have to help them? It's all my fault; this entire organization is possible because of my research.._

Having given up any hope of returning to a normal life, Dr. Isaacs attached the table to a vertical, metal pole, sticking up through the roof of the building they were currently occupying.

_Now we just wait for the storm to come._

_**Thanks for reading- sorry it was short (I just started writing this again after awhile. Please R&R- hope you'll keep reading!**_


	6. Band Together

_**Another Claymore Story**_

_Thy sky darkened during the afternoon, black clouds encircling the world in a cold embrace. A couple lightning bolts struck across the empty wasteland, throwing a temporary light upon a broken battlefield, bodies of deformed monsters everywhere._

_The land was desecrated and silent except for the howling winds, threatening to blow everything away. Thunder rolled across this empty wasteland, echoing for no one to hear. From the midst of a far-off cave, a growling reply came from the depths of the mysterious darkness. The earth shook, as if some giant beast had begun to stir after being in a dormant state for a long period of time._

_The cave was relatively small, not possible for any creature the size of a tree or higher to fit through. The growling echoed out again, and the earth shook once more. The ground began to crack, lava gushing out from below. The growl from the beast grew louder, as the cave began to crumble from the inside out._

_Suddenly, everything stopped, and the only sound was once more the distant rumblings of the thunder. Even the wind seemed to stop. Further from the cave, a small lizard scuttled from beneath a rock. Running over a myriad of skeletal remains, it approached the dark fortress from whence the noises came. Peaking its head inside, it sensed no danger. As it started to turn back around, a loud wind suddenly reappeared, and the lizard was lifted into the air and sent flying into the inner sanctums of the cavern._

XxxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The road was becoming more and more damaged as Miria's company kept going. Looking around, Kai could only see massive trees sprouting up so high that it appeared as if the sky were naturally green.

"Where are we exactly?" asked Kai.

Miria glanced back, but only for a second. Continuing her even stride, it was evident she was not about to answer. Sensing his frustration, Clare halted just long enough to keep in step with Kai, side by side.

"We are headed to an old shrine that can lead us to a place to hide-up at." said Clare.

"Yes," began Miria, "but for some reason, we appear to be walking in a circle regardless of the fact that we've been walking in a straight line."

Looking behind, Kai could still see the end of road, where it crumples into dirt. Thinking back, it was about 15 minutes ago when the road ended. Looking around, everything seemed the same. Of course, it's the forest so it would naturally look the same, but this seemed different somehow.

"What could it all mean?" asked Helena. She looked to Deneve who simply shrugged her shoulders and upped her pace. Taking out a hidden knife from up his sleeve, Kai made a cut in a nearby tree, exactly at a 45 degree angle from the broken edge of the road.

Continuing forward, Kai took the opportunity to talk to the other 3 Claymores he hadn't even spoken to yet.

"So, have you 3 lovely ladies got a name?" he asked with a slight smirk.

The Claymore with the tight bun simply looked back to stare at him. She seemed to hold so much hatred in her eyes, that Kai glanced away to relieve himself from such troubling matters.

"Don't mind her!" yelled one of the others with her hair braided in a pair of plaits.

"My name is Cynthia, Ms. Grumpy over there is Tabitha, and this shy little timid one is Yuma!"

Hearing their names called, Tabitha increased her walking speed, while Yuma glanced away in an almost-subservient manner. Smiling back at the almost-hyper girl, Kai nodded in approval of her mood.

_At least **someone **in this group knows how to relax a bit.._

Looking at the one named Yuma, he inwardly laughed when she tried to act as if she were superior than him and as if he were not worth the effort of communicating with. Unfortunately for her, it was painstakingly obvious that she was bluffing. She threw her long, straight hair back with her right hand.

They continued for another 10 minutes, when Miria stopped once more. Looking back, the edge of the road was still right behind them. Glancing around at the trees, Kai quickly located the tree where he had previously left a mark. Pulling out his blade once more, he put the edge to the cut in the tree. Closely examining it, he let out an exasperated sigh.

"What is it?" asked Clare as she walked forward to meet him by the tree.

"The forest isn't the problem; there is someone manipulating us." was Kai's reply.

Miria walked up and examined the cut as well.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"The cut I made earlier is different. We aren't walking in a circle."

Miria frowned at him.

"But-" she began, before Kai cut her off to explain.

"By appearance, everything looks exactly the same. The difference, is that earlier I projected some of my yoki into the cut. Sensing it now, there is a different presence to this cut. Someone else has copied my cut."

Miria nodded in understanding.

"And no one can copy another's yoki signature so.."

A deep laugh rumbled through the ground, echoing throughout all the forest.

"**Fools. You're already trapped; there's no getting out not."**

"Who's there!" screamed everyone, albeit only slightly differently.

"**The embrace of death; a sleep where you will never return to the waking world."**

All around, every plant began letting out a green pore-spray. Their entire world began to flicker. The trees slowly melted into the ground, which seemed to ripple like the waves of an ocean. Kai's feet were slowly being pulled into the ground, as well as Miria from what he could see. Soon, he didn't even care about THAT, because he mind started getting more and more fuzzy.

More laughter erupted from everywhere at once.

_No.. it can't end so quickly.._

_Mother..._

XxXxxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

_**Thanks. Please R&R if you would! :)**_


	7. Futile Efforts

_**Another Claymore Story**_

_The ground was torn into pieces, rubble left everywhere. What was once a place of wonder is now nothing but a hovel and home only to the lifeless. Dark clouds seemed to almost reach out for the ground, yet never able to reach far enough. The menacing feel of the clouds could almost envelope your soul; they were definitely not natural, nor did they contain any liquid inside. The only thing that existed in those abominations was the pure essence of evil._

_Nearby, a large crater had decimated the side of a mountain, natural rock broken into pieces, impossibly so by any mortal creature. Further inside the hole, a another hole existed, leading down, deep into the earth, where a large cavern held hundreds and hundreds of skeletal remains._

_A distant roar could be heard, possibly from the only living 'thing' left on the desolate wasteland._

"Ugh.."

"I see you're awake." said a man dressed in black, bandages covering his entire face except for the right eye.

The world seemed a bit fuzzy to Kai, so he kept his focus on searching for landmarks. With no reply, the man in black chuckled to himself, no doubt assuming that his silence was do to fear and panic.

Wherever he was, it was dim-lit, a tad bit damp, and made out of cement/stone. Glancing around, the room was rather empty, except for a section in the northeast corner of the room, where clean white sheets hung from the ceiling.

His vision was starting to return to normal, but some of his thoughts were lacking in memory. Trying to recollect how he had gotten there, he went back to the last thing he remembered doing, which was traveling in the woods..

_Clare and the others!_

His alertness must have shown, because the man garbed in black answered his unspoken question.

"Your allies are unharmed right now. They simply lay asleep in a couple storage rooms."

_Dang.._

"If you-"

"If we hurt them, what would you do? It is only by our.. generosity.. that they are even still alive in the first place." The man smiled most maliciously. That smile irked Kai. Kai wanted to wipe the smug smile off his filthy, good for nothing face. He also wouldn't mind smashing it in with his knee or fist.

"What do you want?" demanded Kai, steeling his anger into a cold fury.

"We want.. your cooperation."

Kai remained silent, yet the silence only lasted for a couple seconds.

He continued speaking.

"We have a certain.. project.. with which we would.. appreciate your involvement in."

A defiant light shone in Kai's eyes, letting the fool in black know that he would suffer greatly for his mistake in capturing the surviving, male Claymore.

"Agree to help, and the lovely ladies in the back will be reinstated as warriors, no longer hunted down like the animals you half-are."

This was an offer with exponential benefit. No one had exception- no one. Needing only to contemplate for a minute or so, Kai nodded his surrender.

"Excellent..."

With a snap of his finger, a man in a black lab coat came walking into the room, rather fast for one who appeared to be an employee. If only the girls were not captured, then this man would've somehow been his escape to freedom. Now, there was nothing to do but listen and obey.

_Funny how things go full-round on you.._

Eyes opening, extreme amounts of light caused Clare to be slightly disoriented. Once finally adjusted, the female warrior took in her surroundings, finding herself- as well as two of her companions- in a small room, with literally nothing in it.

No one had their weapons on them, and their clothes were also replaced by white jumpsuits. The other two girls- Helena and Deneve- were still unconscious, not yet burdened by the urgency of their situation.

Standing up to stretch her legs, Clare was greatly surprised to find an electric jolt shooting into her body, through a large metal collar at her neck. Screaming in agony, she fell to her knees and then onto her stomach.

Her noise-making, of course, woke the other two, but Clare was too out of breath to warn them in time. Soon enough, however, they discovered for themselves the reason for Clare's pain.

"What the heck! What's going on!" shouted Helena.

Breathing heavily yet in control, Deneve calmly grabbed hold of Helena's shoulder.

"Calm down before you give yourself a heart attack."

Obviously not funny to her, she restrained herself regardless. Having recovered from the shock of a discovery, Clare sat back up and leaned back against the wall.

"What should we do?" asked Deneve.

Looking down for a second, no doubt searching for the best answer, she answered the question with the only reply she could think of.

"We wait."

Nodding in agreement Deneve shut her eyes, the appearance of sleep falling upon her. Of course, there's no way she would actually go to sleep, for she was prepared- as were the others- for any situation to appear whether it be in the next instance, the next day, or a month from now.

Sighing out of her evident boredom, Helena laid down on the ground, putting her arms behind her head- her favorite position of lazy.

Dr. Isaacs stood at the foot of two beds pushed together. In one, a young teenage boy lay there, never having experienced life before. To his immediate right was an older guy, seemingly only in the early twenties of his life, his silver eyes currently being only one of three things that gave him away.

Tearing his gaze away from those defeated eyes, he looked down at the scars that ravaged his body. The previous creation of what the public calls 'Claymores' was a very ghastly set of procedures. Guilt rose up in his chest, so much that he forced his sight upon the fine, near-silver hair of the older male. Without close inspection, that hair could be described as snowy white- the color of purity and cleanliness.

_Too bad this creature could never be called 'pure'._

This was also backed up do to the fact that the lower half of his hair was a dark brown, if now black.

_His dark, evil soul is hidden by an outer shell of deceit and lies._

Putting a halt to any more unnecessary observations, Dr. Isaacs used a needle to inject a new formula into 'the Creature's bloodstream. Sleep quickly took hold of him, allowing him the one small comfort of unconsciousness, compared to the unbearable pain that was once enforced on the small children who were doomed to become the monster in front of him now.

Starting up one of the strange machines to the side, Yoki Fusion began. The silver-eyed monster began fueling the corpse-of-a-boy with his power(s). Connecting the next machine, part of his life force began being absorbed by the boy as well. Lastly, a final machine was turned on, sending life energy into the older Claymore, so that his life does not fall through their fingers. He was needed alive for this project to work successfully, and the original series of Claymore Warriors held a special trait to turn transferred energy into their own wavelengths.

This remaining male Claymore was invaluable. Invaluable indeed.


End file.
